The present invention relates to an electronic purchase method. Particularly, the present invention is directed to making an online purchase.
The development of the Internet has created vast new markets and marketplaces. A consumer with an Internet connection may search for, and likely find, a wide variety of goods and services. While e-commerce flourishes, though, consumers are becoming more and more wary of the apparent free flow of sensitive personal, financial and other information that takes place over the Internet, especially incident to electronic purchasing. This concern is exacerbated by the limited amount of payment options available for electronic purchasing.
During the checkout process at web sites, the merchant will sometimes use a credit card processing system provided by a third party. The customer could be handed off to the third party site for finishing the checkout process or remain at the merchant site while information on the transaction is passed to the third party site. The third party secures the payment from the credit card account and passes the proceeds to the merchant. Where the customer is handed off, that customer may not return to the merchant site after checkout. If information is gathered by the merchant site and passed to the third party site, that information is available and possibly stored by the merchant site.